


What the Bard Missed

by silence_since_silence



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Action, BAMF Merlin, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Pre-Canon, Sneakiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silence_since_silence/pseuds/silence_since_silence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur tiredly walk their horses along a deserted road at twilight. After some time, they come to the edge of a fast-flowing river. Because Merlin's magic is still a very well hidden secret, Arthur suggests they walk along the bank of the river to find a slower or thinner point at which they will be able to cross.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Bard Missed

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you [TheHatMeister](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHatMeister) for the beta! Any remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: Merlin and Harry Potter characters are the property of their respective creators, producers, and/or purchasers. They are not mine. No copyright infringement is intended.

Merlin and Arthur tiredly walk their horses along a deserted road at twilight.

After some time, they come to the edge of a fast-flowing river. Because Merlin's magic is still a very well hidden secret, Arthur suggests the pair (and their beasts) walk along the bank of the river to find a slower or thinner point at which they will be able to cross.

They walk downriver. Merlin chatters amiably, if a little less energetically than usual, at Arthur as they go. The river remains swift.

Ahead of them they see three men on the opposite bank who are standing at the edge of a bridge. Their path across the bridge is blocked by a hooded figure.

Arthur gestures to Merlin to follow him into the trees to their left so they can circle around to a closer point to watch without being observed themselves. They move into the trees. They tie their horses in a very shrouded spot, then move toward the bridge.

When they are close enough to hear, they stop and look through branches. The figure on the bridge appears to be holding a stick.

Arthur notices that the hooded figure's cloak appears to be blowing in the wind, but there  _is_  no wind. Merlin notices that his skin feels clammy, and he thinks it was not this way when they tied the horses. Merlin feels the wind that does not exist. Merlin shivers.

A stone from the riverbank floats up into the hooded figure's hand, and Arthur becomes more tense. "Sorcery," Arthur whispers. He didn't need to. The men do not hear him, but Merlin thinks the figure on the bridge (who he is deliberately not naming even in his thoughts) does hear. Merlin thinks the hooded figure knows he and Arthur are there.

A section of the hooded figure's ample cloak is torn off and handed off to the man who did not take the stick or the rock. The man throws it around himself and vanishes.

Arthur has seen more than enough. One crime of sorcery, and three -- well, if he can find the third -- men consorting with a sorcerer. Arthur spares no more time; he jumps from behind the trees with his sword drawn and pronounces these men guilty according to the laws of Camelot.

Merlin's gasped "Arthur, no!" never makes it as far as Arthur's ears.

Merlin reaches Arthur's side.

The hooded figure turns around.

"Emrys," greets Death.

Merlin's skin feels like ice and fire swirling together. He feels something hard against his knees, and puts his hand down to brush it away but feels the ground instead. How did he drop without knowing it?

Arthur redoubles his efforts. In his most commanding voice he demands their surrender and that Merlin should be released from whatever spell has just been put upon him.

"Whatever the reverse of "emriss" is, that is what you should be saying right now," Arthur insists. "I have the authority to dispatch you here and now, or you can give yourselves up and stand trial in Camelot."

"If you wish for--" a pause -- " _Merlin_  to be released from what he is suffering, Arthur Pendragon, then you must let me go free," says Death.

Arthur does not respond, but keeps his sword pointed at the criminals.

"Arthur..." whispers Merlin.

Arthur does not respond.

"Arthur, do–"

Merlin is cut off by his own choking coughs. He gasps for breath, but cannot take any without coughing the air back out before it really gets into his lungs. Arthur, too, goes to his knees, but only to hold Merlin up by the shoulders. Arthur's face is entirely concern for Merlin.

There is a loud crack from the bridge.

Abruptly, Merlin can breathe again. He drags in deep breath after deep breath for a few moments. His skin has stopped burning. The sun feels warm on his back.

"Arthur, I'm okay," Merlin says when he notices the grip Arthur still has on Merlin's shoulders.

Arthur squeezes one shoulder, lets go, and turns back to the criminals.

There are only two left, and they are walking across the bridge toward Arthur and Merlin.

The one with the stick speaks to Arthur as Arthur raises his sword again.

"You will let us pass, your highness, and you will come to no harm from us" says Antioch Peverell.

"Threatening royalty is unwise," Arthur replies. "You will not pass without surrendering yourself to the la– what...?" Arthur says the last word as an unplanned afterthought that falls down from his mind to splat on the ground. 

The two remaining criminals had clapped their hands over their ears and scrunched up their faces as if in pain from a loud noise. It makes no sense to Arthur, but Antioch, Cadmus, and the invisible Ignotus all just experienced Merlin raging at them in their minds.

(" _DO NOT HARM A SINGLE HAIR ON HIS HEAD OR I WILL GIVE YOU OVER TO DEATH RIGHT HERE AND NOW. YOU WILL WONDER ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE OF ESCAPING A FATE OF DROWNING IN THAT RIVER IF YOU SO MUCH AS TWITCH IN AN ATTEMPT TO TRY TO CROSS ME BY HARMING HIM. HAVE I BEEN CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU?!_ ")

Then Arthur sees the two of them, with their eyes still closed and their ears still covered, nod just a little bit, but very clearly.

Antioch and Cadmus peek out at Arthur and Merlin from between their eyelids.

A loud crack like a tree breaking in half accompanies their disappearance.

Arthur alertly looks around them for a moment. He sees no movement anywhere nearby other than the water in the river.

Arthur turns back to Merlin, who turns toward Arthur from looking around for the same thing.

"I think they're really gone, sire. Let's go retrieve the horses, unless you think you can track them," Merlin suggests.

"No.... No footprints.... Come on, Merlin. To the horses," Arthur replies.

An invisible presence still near their end of the bridge catches Merlin's awareness.

 _Use that gift well, Ignotus_ , Merlin says as he and Arthur walk away.

To Arthur, Merlin says, "Let's keep walking on this side of the river like we planned, Arthur. I don't fancy that river guardian coming back," and he puts his hand around his throat to drive home his point.

"Perhaps you're right, Merlin," Arthur says after a moment. There is a little bit too much worry in his tone, and Merlin knows they will find the slowest water to wade through before Arthur feels comfortable again.

***

When Arthur is back in his room in Camelot and Merlin has finished his work there for the night, Merlin tells Gaius about their encounter at the bridge.

It will be many years hence before Merlin fully understands his body's reaction to his proximity to Death, or why Death greeted Merlin as though he were a colleague.


End file.
